Part 16 (1/2)
”Yes, there is no doubt but she is better to-day. There is really hope for her now, I am sure. But she came very near pa.s.sing through the Gates.”
”Very near pa.s.sing through the Gates”! As though I had not pa.s.sed through, and in returning left them so ajar that gleams of the heavenly radiance from beyond them will fall about my life forever!
I have been in my Father's house.
”We shall know each other there!”
SUPPLEMENTAL CHAPTER
In the many letters received since the publication of ”Intra Muros,”
repeated inquiries have been made of me on different points contained in the book, requiring much correspondence, and it has been suggested that possibly the addition of a few pages, as a supplement to the book, might explain some matters, or, possibly, make more clear some points that have not been fully comprehended by the reader.
Let me in the beginning rea.s.sert what I have heretofore stated: that I have never claimed that this strange experience is either a revelation or an inspiration. It came to me during a period of great physical suffering and prostration, and I have always considered it as sent in compensation for that suffering. Be this as it may, it has been a great comfort and help to me, and, through the letters received from others, I am led to believe it has been the same to many who have read it, for which cause I am extremely gratified. I wish that I might give the entire experience just as it came to me, but I find that earth-language is wholly inadequate for me to do so. There were so many mysteries, so many teachings far beyond anything that in this life we have known, that I find myself bewildered and lost when I attempt to convey to others the marvelous things that at that time seemed indeed to me to be a most wonderful revelation.
The question has repeatedly been asked me, ”Was this a real experience, or merely a fanciful sketch?” What I have written above will as nearly answer that question as it is possible for me to do. The preface and early pages as given in the little volume are as nearly accurate as I can make them; and anything that I might add on that point would simply be superfluous. To me, at the time, it was as real as any experience in this life could possibly be.
Questions have been asked respecting the comparative distances in heaven and our powers of pa.s.sing from one point to another; and the question has even been asked if in the other life we developed wings that aided us in pa.s.sage, as the wings of a bird. These matter-of-fact questions are sometimes quite difficult to answer, for my belief is, that if I were really in the other life, as during this experience I seemed to be, my thoughts would be so far above, so lifted beyond such temporal matters, that I would be unable to answer such inquiries satisfactorily on my return to this life. Looking back upon it now, and trying to gather facts from the impressions that I then received, I should say that none who have ever pa.s.sed through mortal life would in any way be changed from their present personal appearance, except to be etherealized and glorified. When I seemed to stand in that wonderful Temple filled with the Glory of G.o.d the Father, four angels with uplifted trumpets stood beside the golden altar on the great platform of pearl, and from their shoulders shadowy pinions enfolded them and touched the floor upon which they stood. And when, in a moment of bewildering emotion, I lifted my eyes to the erstwhile cloud-filled dome, I saw about the hitherto invisible choir, the shadowy pinions of which we so often read, half concealing the harps and instruments of gold. Also, when at the close of that wonderful day when I had first met the Savior, we heard the angel voices as we stood together in the great flower-room, and, looking upward, saw the child faces in the golden twilight above us, they, too, had delicate shadowy wings, half concealing the baby forms. Except for this, I have no recollection of having seen any of those glorious wings of which we so often read.
To me it seems that to the angels of G.o.d who have always lived in heaven, these are given; but to those who have suffered and toiled and borne the cross below, is given only the glorified form, such as our Savior himself bore. We appear to our friends when we meet them over there just as they saw us here, only purified and perfect. Still, we had powers of locomotion given us that carried us from point to point swiftly and securely, as though borne by a boat upon the waters.
I do not know how I can better ill.u.s.trate this point than by giving a little incident not mentioned in the book. I remember, as I sat one morning upon the upper terrace in the house of my sister whom I had welcomed there soon after my arrival, and who, though really then a denizen of earth, has since pa.s.sed over and taken possession of that beautiful home prepared for her, that my sister said to me:
”I often look across the river to those lovely hills in the distance, and wonder if it is all as beautiful there as here. I mean some day to go and see.”
”Why not go to-day?” was my answer.
”Could you go with me this morning?” was her inquiry, as she turned her radiant face again toward the river and the lovely fields beyond.
”With pleasure,” I replied. ”I have often wished to go myself. There is something very inviting in the beautiful landscape beyond the river.
Where is my brother Oliver?” I asked; ”will he not accompany us?”
”No,” she said, looking smilingly toward me, ”he has gone upon an important mission for the Master to-day; but you and I, dear, can go, and be at home again before his return.”
”Then let us do so,” I replied, rising and giving her my hand.
She at once arose, and, instead of turning toward the stairway in the center of the building, we turned and walked deliberately to the low coping that surrounded the upper veranda. Without a moment's hesitation we stepped over this into the sweet air that lay about us.
There was no more fear of falling than if our feet had been upon the solid earth. We had the power of pa.s.sing through the air at will, and through the water, just as we had the power of walking upon the crystal paths and greensward about us.
We ascended slightly until we were just above the tree-tops, and then--what shall I say?--we did not fly, we made no effort either with our hands or our feet; I can only think of the word ”drifting” that will at all describe this wonderful experience. We went as a leaf or a feather floats through the air on a balmy day, and the sensation was most delightful. We saw beneath us through the green branches of the trees the little children playing, and the people walking--some for pleasure, some for duty. As we neared the river we looked down on the pleasure-boats upon the water and upon the people sitting or lying or walking on the pebbly bottom; and we saw them with the same distinctness as though we were looking at them simply through the atmosphere.
Conversing as we drifted onward, we soon were over the tops of the hills to which we had looked so longingly from the veranda of my sister's house, and, for some time, we had no words to exchange; our hearts were filled with sensations such as only the scenes of heaven can give. Then my sister said very softly, quoting from one of the old earth-hymns:
”Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood.
Stand dressed in living green.”
And, in the same spirit, I answered, ”It is indeed a rapturous scene--
”'That rises to our sight, Sweet fields arrayed in living green, and rivers of delight.'”